The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Rudbeckia plant, botanically known as Rudbeckia hirta X Rudbeckia hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘ET RDB 603’.
The new Rudbeckia plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Boijl, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Rudbeckia plants with small leaves and large long-lasting and attractive inflorescences on strong peduncles.
The new Rudbeckia plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventors in Boijl, The Netherlands in 2015 of a proprietary selection of Rudbeckia hirta identified as code designation M3726, not patented, as the female, or seed parent with a proprietary selection of Rudbeckia hybrida identified as code designation M1862, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Rudbeckia plant was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Boijl, The Netherlands in 2016.
Asexual reproduction of the new Rudbeckia by in vitro meristem culture in a controlled greenhouse environment in Boijl, The Netherlands since 2016 has shown that the unique features of this new Rudbeckia plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.